Pregon de la Navidad - Chistmas Parade

I'm not going to sugar coat it, ever since I was about 12, I stopped being so impressed with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I mean it is just always the same! Every year the same! I realize that for some people that is what they love, the expected, the tradition, but it's just not for me anymore. I still do get a little nostalgic about my local, hometown Christmas parade, but let's be honest, I think I was 17 the last time I actually saw it. If I went back now, I probably wouldn't make it to see Santa at the end, cause I already would have hauled my mom into a coffee shop for a double 12 oz. soy latte (can you tell I really want one? cause I do!) or a gingerbread latte (cause I am missing them yet another year!) to warm up and chat, cause it is cold in Bend, OR in December!
Just like last year in Madagascar, it just doesn't quite feel like the holiday season here in Ecuador for me. Sure their are some trees in windows, lights on houses, and people buying gifts right and left, but it just doesn't quite have the same feel as it does at home. Additionally, there are no community wide Christmas traditions, no programmed lighting of the city Christmas tree downtown, no school concerts...hmmmf. But finally, I got wind at the Parroquia of the Pregon de la Navidad - The Christmas Parade! Yessssssssss! The spanish volunteers, Natalia, Maria and I told Pedro that the disability group would 100% be participating. He said he would get a truck arranged for our float. Float? Yes, all the pieces of the event were start falling into place - Pedro assigns each group who wants to participate in the Parroquia's Pregon a bible verse to interpret. of course he does...as the disability project, we were to interpret a visit of Jesus to a sick child and mother where he tells them "Levantate! Animo!" (Get up! Get ready yourself ready!), which are also the theming words to the RBC project in the Parroquia.
Well the day of the pregon rolls around, and what do you know, we don't have a truck for our float. of course we don't! Isidra calls around, and secures us a truck from a neighbor. Maria, Natalia and I get to getting on cutting out giant felt letters to decorate the truck. We also make about 100 little felt flowers to decorate our float. (the budget per group for the float is $0, and the felt is free at the church, so we aprovechar-ed!!!) Of course today is burning hot, clear blue skies, with not a cloud to offer barrier from the equatorial sun! At about 1pm we pack up our felt and huff it down to Isidra's house to get to work on our float.
The truck that has been secured for us, let me say, is an antique, but not necesarily a collectors' item. We immediately get to work covering it with yards of red felt before busting out the packaging tape. It soon becomes obvious that taping is not going to suffice, we are going to have to sew/pin everything together and on to the truck! So here we are are, 5 women - 2 spaniards, 2 ecuadorians, and 1 american sewing and sweating in the blazing hot mid-day equatatorial sun. After about 2 hours our truck was looking particularly mahvelous in our opinion. We stepped inside for a few minutes to cool off and hydrate, before getting ourselves lined up for the big parade to start. I'll spare you the pictures of us sweating and sewing, and just she the final product of our work before heading off to the parade. That is me, Natalia, Maria, and Gabriela our little "sick" child for our float.
Well, we all jump into the truck and speed way to the church in Fanca, as fast as our little old truck will go, to get in line. We were a little late getting there, and were so pleased to find a group of kids from the special education schools waiting for us to arrive for them to participate! Yeah!
So this is where the Christmas Parade is probably not quite what you might expect. There were no school bands (those are reserved for local holiday parades), but instead lots of biblical costuming. It was really a "birth of christ" parade more than Christmas as we American's celebrate it...all the the groups walked/rode the length of Leonidas Plaza arriving at the hospital park for a special mass celebrating the Virgin of Guadelupe and of course, Christmas.

Below are some pictures for your viewing pleasure of the day's events.

(R: our kiddos; L: the two professors, Isidra and Oscar in their roles; B: our group with float)

Some of the other participating groups floats/respresentations:


(R: the INFA group in their Nativity; L: Me and the jovenes! B: Some of the kiddos from the Comedor)